ridicully | Network

Happy Birthday to my brain twin,

em_kellesvig!

Tribbles Are Trouble (4583 words) by esteefee
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Rodney McKay/John Sheppard
Characters: John Sheppard, Rodney McKay, Teyla Emmagan, Ronon Dex, Dr. Cole MD (Stargate Atlantis)
Additional Tags: Crack, Tribbles (Star Trek)
Summary:

Rodney finds a new alien ~~pig~~ pet, and John is wigged out.

james_davis_nicoll

Can the American King's uncanny military genius best an enemy so cunning the enemy loses every battle?

The Steel, the Mist, and the Blazing Sun by Christopher Anvil

princessofgeeks

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has marked as possibly inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18. )

Mood annoyed

oursin

Happy birthday,

tree_and_leaf!

grayswandir posting in

c_ent

This isn't directly C-ent related, but yesterday I visited the Hong Kong Palace Museum (a partner museum of the Beijing Palace Museum in the Forbidden City), and thought I'd post about it here. It just opened in 2022. There are nine galleries, seven of which were filled with displays from Chinese history, mostly things from the imperial palace. The vast majority of the items on display were from the Qing Dynasty, mainly from the time of Qianlong's reign (1736-1795). But there were also some displays from earlier reigns and earlier dynasties, and even one display of pottery dating back as far as 4,000 years.

( To connect this at least slightly to Cnovels/Cdramas... )

Anyway, I thought I'd share some of what's on display. This is nowhere near everything, just a selection; there are hundreds and hundreds of objects in the galleries. (Er, also apologies for the low quality. My phone is old and the museum has very low lighting. :P)

( Museum exterior )

( Entering the Forbidden City )

( Life and Art in the Forbidden City )

( The Art of Armaments: Qing Dynasty Military Collection )

And moving backwards in history:

( Ming Dynasty Ceramic Treasures from the Palace Museum, 1368-1644. )

And the last gallery I visited, ( the Founding Donations gallery, which had some even older items on display. )

( A couple of scenery shots outside. )

(I'm not sure how best to tag this! Let me know. :)

dine

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

apod_feed

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250705.html

sasha_feather

My eyes are bothering me lately; anything close-focus is hard. Really challenging as most of my hobbies involve close focus. I have a lot of pain in my mouth and face so concentrating is also difficult.

TV seems to be the way to go but I feel like I've run out of shows.

Enjoying: Murderbot. Also loved The Pitt, and the Old Guard 2. Task Master and DropOut (Game changer, etc), continue to delight.

Other things I've watched:

Mr Robot. Gave up after one season. It's grim and humorless. I liked some of the actors a lot but the aesthetic was so gray on gray, and a high preference for very thin bodies and baggy eyes, like heroin-addict chic. For a thriller it's weirdly slow.

The storied life of AJ Fikry: A cromulent romance / drama on Netflix. Cute if not particularly memorable. It's about people who love reading and live on an island only accessible by ferry. Has multiple characters of color.

I watched 2 episodes of "Nobody Wants This", a rom-com with Kristen Bell. Her character falls in love with a rabbi. The characters felt really thinly drawn and so I did not care about them. There was just no there there, as they say.

The Last Breath: a drama about a survival story involving deep-sea construction workers (based on a true story). I liked this pretty well but think it would have worked better with some documentary-style explanations of what was happening.

Clean Slate: on Amazon Prime, a sitcom about a trans woman reconnecting with her father. I dropped this because I could not see what was happening! There seemed to be a gray film over everything! I might try it again later as it had some good humor and characters.

I tried season three of the Bear but it was unpleasant.

I played Dragon Age: Inquisition through twice, which was very restful for my brain actually. I think it would be a good idea to invest further in video games, which help me pass the time when I'm ill. I don't know much about gaming systems. I'd love to play Dragon Age Veilguard and some other newer games but how to decide on what kind of system to get? They are expensive. I got the Xbox 360 used and have absolutely loved having it.

What are you enjoying watching or playing?

settiai

In tonight's game, ( the rest under a cut for those who don't care. )

And that's where we left off and will be picking up tomorrow.

Mood tired

torachan

1. We had such a nice time at Disneyland this morning. Too sunny but otherwise lovely weather and so few crowds!

2. We stopped at the farmers market on the way home and got some stuff from our usual vendors (the fruit leather guy definitely knows me now) but there was also a new vendor, a vegan Jewish deli that had all sorts of interesting stuff. Carla got a jar of some sort of pickle relish and I got some pastries including a stone fruit "cheese" danish (idk what the cheese was but everything was vegan so it wasn't actually dairy) that was super good and a pistachio cardamom apricot hamantaschen, which I haven't tried yet but that flavor combo is a favorite so I have high hopes.

3. I love that feeling on the middle day of a three day weekend when you realize that you don't have work tomorrow. That keeps happening throughout the day and it's a pleasant surprise every time. Definitely looking forward to one more day of rest.

4. Jasper's definitely got the relaxing down.

torachan

We were expecting it to be crowded today because of the holiday weekend but it was actually one of the least crowded days we've ever experienced at the parks.

( Read more... )

ao3_news_feed

https://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/31888

Banner of a paper airplane emerging from an envelope with the words 'OTW Newsletter: Organization for Transformative Works'

I. SPOTLIGHT ON FICTIONALLEY IMPORT

Open Doors has nearly finished importing FictionAlley, a Harry Potter archive. With approximately 29,000 works imported so far, it is Open Doors' largest import yet. You can check out all imported works at the FictionAlley collection. Unclaimed works are currently locked to logged-in AO3 users only, but per Open Doors' agreement with the FictionAlley archivist, they will be unlocked 30 days after the import is fully completed.

All FictionAlley creators should have received one or more emails with links to claim, orphan, delete their works, or prevent the import of any additional works of theirs in the future. If you were a creator and did not receive this email, please contact Open Doors for assistance. You can also contact Open Doors if you would like to prevent future imports of your Harry Potter works specifically.

Open Doors has two other Harry Potter archives currently in their queue: HarryPotterFanFiction.com and MuggleNet Fan Fiction. If your email address has changed since you were a member of either archive, or you would like Open Doors not to import your works, please contact Open Doors. Please refer to the import announcements for a full list of how Open Doors can assist you with either import.

II. ARCHIVE OF OUR OWN

Accessibility, Design & Technology (AD&T) coordinated with Board and Volunteers & Recruiting to formally decommission the Quality Assurance & Testing (QA&T) subcommittee—thank you to everyone who has served on QA&T over the years. Quality assurance and testing of AO3's code will continue under the oversight of AD&T's new QA Supervisor role. AD&T's latest releases have focused on various bug fixes, code clean-up, and monitoring improvements: check out the release notes. Also, Systems has installed some new Elasticsearch servers and repurposed the old ones as application servers! \o/

Open Doors announced the import of Absolution – The Inugrrrl Memorial, an InuYasha fanfiction memorial archive.

In May, Support received 3,177 tickets, while Policy & Abuse (PAC) received 3,763 tickets—a nearly 40% increase which is likely due to PAC's recent TOS spotlight series. PAC worked with Legal and Communications' News Post Moderation subcommittee to review over 1,700 comments across seven posts, with more than 400 comments receiving a reply. PAC will also be recruiting soon, so look out for the upcoming recruitment post!

In June, Tag Wrangling neared completion of phase two of three of their committee-wide guideline discussions on fandom metatags. They also launched a new procedure which streamlines creation of new "No Fandom" canonical tags, which are canonical tags not specific to any particular fandom. The committee plans to post announcements periodically detailing new tags, including one in a few weeks.

In May, Tag Wrangling handled over 610,000 tags, or over 1,200 tags per wrangling volunteer.

III. ELSEWHERE AT THE OTW

Fanlore's Annual Bingo was a huge success! \o/ 25 participants completed at least one bingo, and 16 got a total blackout. Thanks to everyone who took part!

In July, Fanlore is running a themed month—Fandom in Color—which celebrates characters of color, the contributions of fans of color, and more! Check out their social media (Bluesky and Tumblr) for page spotlights throughout the month.

Communications is now overseeing the OTW's Convention Outreach division, which was previously run by Development & Membership. If you have inquiries regarding OTW's convention presence, Communications can be reached through their contact form on the OTW website.

TWC is finalizing their upcoming general issue of Transformative Works and Cultures, volume 46, which will be published on September 15. They are still accepting submissions for their Latin American Fandoms special issue until January 1, 2026.

IV. THE 2025 ELECTION AND GOVERNANCE

Elections announced the 2025 Election candidates; this year's election is contested, with three candidates running for two open seats in this year's election. Their platforms are available on the Elections website. Communications has been coordinating public posts, while Translation is working on translating candidates' platforms.

2025's OTW Board Election will take place on August 15-18. OTW Members who plan to nominate a proxy should contact Elections by August 6. Specific dates for Q&A and Candidate Chats will be made available on the 2025 Election Timeline page.

Development & Membership has been checking membership for Board candidates and donors who want to vote in this year's election, while Finance has begun preparing for the 2024 audit.

Board uploaded minutes from the April 2025 Board public meeting to the OTW website. They also approved two new Finance Bookkeepers, held check-in meetings with Legal and the Paid Staff Transition Lead, and continued to work with the Organizational Culture Roadmap Workgroup. The Board Assistants Team's work also continues on several projects, including the Procurement Policy and Board Discord Server Guidelines revamp.

V. OUR VOLUNTEERS

Volunteers & Recruiting conducted recruitment for two committees—Tag Wrangling and Support—and two subcommittees—News Post Moderation and Internal Complaint and Conflict Resolution—this month.

From May 19 to June 22, Volunteers & Recruiting received 147 new requests and completed 139, leaving them with 53 open requests (including induction and removal tasks listed below).

As of June 22, 2025, the OTW has 944 volunteers. \o/

New Committee Chairs/Leads: 2 Organizational Culture Roadmap Workgroup Heads
New AD&T Volunteers: 1 QA Supervisor
New Communications Volunteers: 2 Convention Specialists and 3 TikTok Moderators
New Communications News Post Moderation Volunteers: Mossie, Vihi, and 1 other News Post Moderator
New Fanlore Volunteers: 90PercentHuman, Hobgirl, Sparrow, and 1 other Policy & Admin Volunteer
New Finance Volunteers: Scott and 1 other Bookkeeper
New Open Doors Volunteers: Bette, devinwolfi, Kelpie, korry, November_Clouds, Pat Zarzecka, scattered_coreopsis, Starlings and 6 other Import Assistants
New Organizational Culture Roadmap Workgroup Volunteers: 1 Goal Supervisor; megidola and 1 other Volunteer
New Support Volunteers: 2 Chair Assistants
New Translation Volunteers: 1 Volunteer Manager; Adri Jaimes, Lia404, ttom1323, and 5 other Translators
New User Response Translation Volunteers: Felipe and friki (Translators)

Departing Committee Chairs/Leads: Nary (Support) and 2 QA&T Leads
Departing AD&T QA&T Volunteers: runt and 1 other QA&T Testing Volunteer
Departing AO3 Documentation Volunteers: Leja, Evolcahra, and 1 other Editor
Departing Communications Volunteers: 1 TikTok Lead
Departing Development & Membership Volunteers: 1 Convention Specialist
Departing Fanlore Volunteers: 1 Policy & Admin Volunteer
Departing Open Doors Volunteers: 2 Import Assistants and 1 Technical Volunteer
Departing Policy & Abuse Volunteers: 1 Volunteer
Departing Support Volunteers: Sandra 002 (Volunteer)
Departing Tag Wrangling Volunteers: ladydragona (Supervisor); Daniailís, MFY11EP, Barbara Thomas, and 3 other Volunteers
Departing Translation Volunteers: 1 Volunteer Manager; Mirjam, DaisyJane, DanielUL, and 6 other Translators
Departing Volunteers & Recruiting Volunteers: 1 Volunteer

For more information about our committees and their regular activities, you can refer to the committee pages on our website.

The Organization for Transformative Works is the non-profit parent organization of multiple projects including Archive of Our Own, Fanlore, Open Doors, Transformative Works and Cultures, and OTW Legal Advocacy. We are a fan-run, entirely donor-supported organization staffed by volunteers. Find out more about us on our website.

https://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/31888

nnozomi posting in

guardian_learning

部首
十 part 4
卓, outstanding; 单, single/list; 卖, to sell ( pinyin )
https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?cdqrad=24

词汇
往往, often; 交往, to affiliate; 前往, to go to/proceed ( pinyin )
https://mandarinbean.com/new-hsk-3-word-list/

Guardian:
你是怀疑小郭会在里面出卖老楚, are you suspecting Xiao Guo will sell out Lao Chu in there?
历史往往都是成王败寇, history is often written by the winners

Me:
你的工作表现真卓越的。
我们公司往往跟她的公司合作。

settiai

In this afternoon's game, ( the rest under a cut for those who don't care. )

And that's where we left off and will be picking up later tonight.

Mood accomplished

pauraque

sunshine_revival's next challenge is:

Tunnel of Love
Journaling: The romance of summer! What do you love? Write about anything you feel sentimental about or that gets your heart pumping.
Creative: Write a love poem to anyone or anything you like.

This is a topic I've been thinking about a lot lately. As an aro-ace person growing up in a time before we really had labels for those things (and, frankly, even now when some people still just don't get it), I've had a lot of experiences of being told that the way I loved people was wrong or not good enough. I'm... well, I was about to say I'm lucky to have people in my life now who don't see my love as lesser because it isn't romantic and never will be, and that is true, but also I have worked damn hard to accept myself as I am and to put energy into relationships with people who get me. So it's part luck, part skill. :P

I recently got a formal diagnosis of being on the autism spectrum. (I promise this relates.) This was something I had suspected for a long time, but having it confirmed has led me to take stock of a lot of past experiences and shine a different light on them. I've always had intense "special interests," but early on in life I learned to downplay them because of other people's disapproval. I think I am a much more... passionate person than others might suspect? I've only been able to let it show a little in fannish spaces where it's more accepted to fall in love with a fandom, or become infatuated with a character, or be swept off your feet by a storyline. Those aren't metaphors, it's really what it feels like, and I feel that way about a lot of things!

When I was a kid one of my special interests was ancient Egypt. I remember flipping through history books and feeling a physical level of joy and contentment as I pored over photos of pyramids and papyri, because I just loved loved loved what I was seeing so much. When the prompt asks about what gets my heart pumping, I think of things like that. But I learned to hide that part of myself because people didn't get it. I want to work on changing this. I know that kind of love is still there and I can still tap into it, and I want a future for myself where I'm proud that it's a part of me. That feels far away right now, but there was also a time when being proud of being aro-ace also felt very far away, so I think there's cause for hope.

sanguinity

Been reading a lot of Herodotus lately. The flight of Hegesistratus made me think of Ewen.

Hegesistratus (100 words) by sanguinity
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Jacobite Trilogy | The Flight of the Heron Series - D. K. Broster, The Histories - Herodotus
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: Ewen Cameron
Additional Tags: Missing Scene, Drabble, Angst
Summary:
Ewen Cameron, lame and hunted after his escape at High Bridge, remembers his childhood daydreams.

...now back to finishing Book IX before book group tomorrow!

lightbird

Challenge #2

Tunnel of Love
Journaling: The romance of summer! What do you love? Write about anything you feel sentimental about or that gets your heart pumping.
Creative: Write a love poem to anyone or anything you like

I'm not sure if I would categorize it as romance per se, but the one thing I love about summer in the northeast, where it's not warm year-round, is being able to go to an outdoor pool. I swim laps in an indoor pool, both in summer and the off-season, but I love being able to sit at an outdoor pool and read and relax. I joined a gym out where my mom lives several years ago, anticipating that I would need to move in with her, or at least stay with her for long periods, to help her out. The gym has both an indoor and an outdoor pool, and the outdoor pool deck is one of my favorite places in the world, and something I don't have in the city. The members are a mix of families with young kids, families with older kids, young couples without kids yet, and seniors, and it's fun to watch the kids play in the fountain in the family pool. It's surrounded by trees, and it's really just a lovely place to be when the weather is nice. It's definitely one of my top enjoyments in life.

As for the creative side of the challenge, I've never been much of a poet. So instead I'm going to share some summer-themed haikus by Bashō:

In bright summer moon,
and with softly clapping hands,
I herald the dawn.

Summer in the world
floating on little waves
of shimmering lake.

Orchid is breathing
its pungent incense into
a butterfly's wings.

Previous Days
Day 1

seascribble

I joined the New Tideland discord server, which is very big and busy and has a million channels, but I'm starting to settle in, mostly lurking or emoji reacting. It's a refreshing change from Star Wars fandom, I have to say. People are able to just...disagree and move on? Politely request that things go in different channels? Incredible. Still the occasional piss-on-the-poor whackjob out in the wild, but I think I've blocked most of them.

( spoilers )

I can't wait for the finale but also I'm distressed that there's only one episode left. This has been an emotionally load bearing 25 minutes a week for me.

autobotscoutriella

Sonata in F You
Chapter 14: I think something took my melody
AO3

Summary: Two weeks after his brother's second trial, Klavier Gavin is arrested for murder.

Fandom: Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney
Characters: Klavier Gavin/Apollo Justice, Klavier Gavin/Daryan Crescend, Ema Skye, Miles Edgeworth
Rating: Teen
Warnings: Canon-typical violence, murder mystery, language
Notes: Chapter title is from Voila's "No Lullaby" again. Daryan song of all time.
( chapter spoilers )

( chapter 14: I think something took my melody )

Music VOILA - No Lullaby

regshoe

hurtcomfortex works are revealed, and I have received this lovely cosy Alan/Davie in Balquhidder fic. I recommend it :D

oursin

Is it OK to read Infinite Jest in public? Why the internet hates ‘performative reading’

You know, I was completely unaware that 'The Internet' hated upon this (whatever it is) until I came across this article and I think we are probably well into a realm similar to journo constructing a phenomenon on the basis of '6 people I spoke to in the wine-bar last week'.

Or maybe I just don't do TikTok and am missing this, but in my experience, few forms of social media are entire monoliths, what?

Why shouldn't people read in public? They're not doing it AT other people, honestly.

Can't help thinking that those who get aerated at people reading on public transport or while sitting quietly in a restaurant or coffee-shop are very likely those who think you should 'rawdog' long planeflights, sad gits.

Okay, these days I am pretty much always reading on ereader when out and about, so nobody can see what I'm reading. But back in the day I have read a lot of things that I daresay some miserable so-and-so would have considered 'performative', like Remembrance of Things Past on the Tube.

And among other things Marx and Rousseau on the train when I was commuting in from suburban Surrey.

Which phase of my life I was reminded of by a review headed 'A darker side of Lawrence Durrell' - I was not aware that there was any other side, actually - I habitually got in the same compartment of the same train each morning and there was the same young man making his way veeeeery slowwwwly through the volumes of The Alexandria Quartet. Months and months of Balthazar.

profiterole_reads

The Old Guard 2 was awesome, but Netflix'd better greenlight a third movie right freaking now. I'm reading the comics, but that doesn't help with the cliffhanger because the plot of the movies is different.

The first film was already full of hot people, and they went and added Henry Golding and Uma Thurman to the cast. ^^

There's major m/m, as well as subtext f/f (canon f/f in the comics).

james_davis_nicoll

This is much easier for Martin's New Voices series....

( Read more... )

james_davis_nicoll

Four works new to me. One is SF, two fantasy, and the magazine (which I have not yet looked inside) likely both. Two of the novels are series novels, one does not seem to me.

Books Received, June 28 — July 4

Poll #33326 Books Received, June 28 — July 4

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 35

View Respondents

Which of these look interesting?

View Answers

FIYAH No. 35: Black Isekai published by FIYAH Literary Magazine (July 2025)
18 (51.4%)

Aces Full edited by George R. R. Martin (November 2025)
2 (5.7%)

Only Spell Deep by Ava Morgyn (March 2026)
6 (17.1%)

The Damned by Harper L. Woods (October 2025)
3 (8.6%)

Some other option (see comments)
0 (0.0%)

Cats!
29 (82.9%)

dancing_serpent posting in

c_ent

The weekly chat posts are intended for just that, chatting among each other. What are you currently watching? Reading? What actor/idol are you currently following? What are you looking forward to? Are you busy writing, creating art? Or did you have no time at all for anything, and are bemoaning that fact?

Whatever it is, talk to us about it here. Tell us what you liked or didn't like, and if you want to talk about spoilery things, please hide them under either of these codes:
or

oursin

Happy birthday,

stillsostrange!

dine

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

delphi

✓

kingstoken's 2025 Book Bingo: Non-Human POV

(I checked this square off my bingo card last time, but this new release arrived with perfect timing, so I'm doubling up.)

Ew, It's Beautiful is the newest collection of cartoonist Joshua Barkman's webcomic False Knees. It contains around 120 short comics, the majority of which were new to me, separated into sections for winter, spring, summer, and fall based on their setting.

The stars of False Knees are usually birds, but there are some cats, insects, and at least a couple of beavers in the mix here. Barkman's art is legitimately beautiful, with a naturalist's specificity and a knack for combining human expressions with realistic animal features, and his writing captures the universal experience of being a small creature in an unfathomably big world. It's full of absurd humour, occasional moments of awe, and recurring bits about the creative process, self-image, and the way friends or family can be on entirely different wavelengths. The comic is where I got my current default icon from, and it almost never fails to bring me a little joy or give me something to appreciate.

( 3 Comics )

apod_feed

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250704.html

Face-on spiral galaxy NGC 6946 and open star cluster NGC 6939 share

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250704.html

settiai

In tonight's game, ( the rest under a cut for those who don't care. )

And that's where we left off and will be picking up tomorrow.

Mood drained

cleo

( 2025 July Break Bingo: Simple Flash Card with links )

( 2025 July Break Bingo= )

( 2025 July Break Bingo: Simple 2x4 Card with links )

cleo

( 2025 July Break Bingo: Simple 4x4 Card with Links )

cleo

( 2025 July Break Bingo: Simple 5x5 Card with links )

cleo

( 2025 July Break Bingo: Simple 5x5 Summer Card with Links )

torachan

1. I had a pretty relaxing day today. Aside from walking up to the store this morning for pie crust and salad stuff, I did not go anywhere and just chilled at home.

2. I got some of the rhubarb I chopped up and froze a few weeks ago out of the freezer and made another pie. There's still four bags (I didn't divide it that way on purpose but it turns out two bags is exactly enough for one pie).

3. Ollie is such a cutie pie.

cleo

( 2025 July Break Bingo: Simple 6x6 Card with Links )

aurumcalendula

I'm at the annoying vidding stage where I have an idea but not a song yet (and all the potential ones I've listened to feel not quite right).

cleo

( 2025 July Break Bingo: Simple Card 7x7 with Links )

china_shop

I wrote a self-indulgent Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan treat for

idproquo and a post-canon Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan domestic-fluff flashfic for the

fan_flashworks Amnesty round. Thanks to

trobadora for beta on both of them! <3

Title: Sunshine and Honey (4126 words) [Mature]
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018)
Relationships: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan
Additional Tags: Ye Olde Haixing Era, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Outdoor Sex, Feeding, Finger Sucking, Oral Fixation, First Kiss (for one of them), First time (for one of them), Treat
Summary:

They were halfway to the Allied Forces’ southern boundary when the sun came out. Shen Wei pulled back his hood and looked around, conscious of the breeze on his bare face. The heavy clouds were finally breaking up.

Meanwhile, Kunlun had dropped his bag and flopped onto his back on the grassy slope. “Let’s rest here a while.”

Title: Pages for You (1762 words) [Teen and Up]
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018)
Relationships: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan
Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Established Relationship, Domestic Fluff, Fade to Black, Community: fan_flashworks
Summary:

Over the course of the evening, an impulse had taken root, and now Shen Wei submitted to it. He switched on his desk lamp, laid out several large sheets of paper and quietly ground some ink. If Zhao Yunlan wanted to read of their time together through the eyes of a Dixingren soldier, who better than Shen Wei to write an account—to show Zhao Yunlan exactly how much his arrival had meant to the war effort and to Shen Wei himself.

autobotscoutriella

Spent my day at the aquarium and had a lovely time (pictures coming soon!), but now I'm way too tired to finish up the Sonata formatting tonight. Tomorrow Me is not going to appreciate the amount of italics left for her to do, plus the inevitable last-minute edits that come along with that.

It was a nice day, though. I am...not feeling patriotic this year, for many reasons, and it was nice to just check out of everything and go look at fish for a few hours.

Mood exhausted

china_shop

Previous poll review
In the Routine poll, 84.2% of respondents voted for tooth-brushing, 50.9% for locking up and switching things off around the house, and 33.3% for tending to pets. Night-time routines taking more than half an hour got 24.6%, and "sometimes it takes me an hour or more" got 7%. *high fives*

In ticky-boxes, hugs won with 75.4%, followed by "how stressful it is to ask tradespeople to change things they've done" with 57.9% and "sitting on a mountain ledge in the moonlight, listening to owls" with 56.1%. Thank you for your votes! <3

Reading
Incandescent by Emily Tesh, read by Zara Ramm, who sounds exactly like Emma Thompson. I spent the middle third of this being unsure what the plot was (or if there even was a plot; "is this a cosy magic-school story?" I asked nobody in particular). Things stirred ominously under the surface, but the tension relied on the reader being more worried about them than the mostly oblivious POV character -- which was interesting. Overall, I enjoyed it very much.

The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander (Chronicles of Prydain). A few more chapters. I'm past halfway and it still feels like setup, which I guess is a function of it being the first book of five.

A tiny bit more of Neurotribes. I'm bored with the case studies/anecdotes and ready for some theory.

Two more chapters of Guardian by priest.

My Whimsy binge stalled after bouncing off three different narrators for The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club. None of them hit the humour right. I suppose I'm going to have to read in text, but Prydain first (and I still haven't finished my reread of Werecockroach, note to self).

Kdramas
I finished Our Unwritten Seoul and enjoyed it very much. It's about 30yo identical twins, one who works in a corporate office in Seoul, and one who lives in their hometown and does a series of temporary and part-time jobs. The office worker is miserable from being bullied at work, so they decide to swap lives. Contains some pretty good (in my inexpert opinion) disability rep, and

I approved of both the morals (spoilers)

1) if you bottle things up and don't let people see your vulnerability, you can't feel their love; and 2) love isn't about winning or losing, or whether you're a burden; it's about being on the same team, staying together, and supporting each other as you win or lose. <3 <3 <3 (I was so happy when Ho-su stopped pushing Mi-ji away, and with the ending when they used sign language sometimes. <3 <3 <3)

I cancelled my VIKI subscription earlier this week because I wasn't using it, so of course I immediately started watching My Dearest Nemesis, as recced by

adore. It has a bit of a "based on a webtoon" feel, but I'm fine with that, and it's a neat twist on the Obnoxious Repressed Chaebol Exec trope. (The leading man is leading a double life: he's a closet fanboy, but his family and position require him to present as a 100% bland, respectable businessman.) I'm obsessed!

Note to self: check out First Night with the Duke next. And maybe renew your VIKI subscription.

Other TV
Poker Face and Murderbot continue to be enjoyable (we're an episode behind on each of them). I found the second half of Andor season 2 a lot more engaging than the first half (and might like the first half more on the rewatch; yet to be determined). Another episode each of Étoile and Krapopolis. The Old Guard 2 on Netflix.

Tiny spoiler for the very end.

Andrew was disgusted that, at the end, as [redacted] leave the secret archive full of ancient texts, they turn out the light but leave candles burning. "What about the ancient books?!" LOL!

A rewatch of French film Rosalie Blum, which I love.

Guardian/Fandom
The continuing delights of read-alongs and polls.

Audio entertainment
A little bit of Heather Cox Richardson's Letters from an American (US constitutional-law context for current developments), a little bit of Midnight Burger (audiodrama), most of the first season of Eight Days of Diana Wynne Jones (which I'm enjoying despite not being familiar with DWJ's earlier books).

Writing/making things
I wrote a flashfic for the

fan_flashworks amnesty round and am poking at a couple of WIPs. My brain seems to be in recovery mode. My only current deadline is the

fan_flashworks Science round.

Life/health/mental state things
My thumbs/hands/wrists are not in great shape. My body is working hard to metabolise ambient stress. (*hugs to everyone*) I'm feeling a little under siege by winter and ~the state of things~, but I saw my sister for the first time in weeks (she's had a cold), a friend came over for lunch on Thursday, and last night our tv-watching friend joined us for Rosalie Blum.

Good things
Chocolate. Andrew and Halle. Fandom and all of you. Polls. Kdramas. Books. Podcasts. Eminem. Writing when it happens. AO3 (*clutches*). Love, kindness, and diversity.

Poll #33324 Crowd-sourcing randomness

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 35

View Respondents

Crowd-sourcing randomness

View Answers

heads
6 (17.1%)

tails
8 (22.9%)

edge
8 (22.9%)

zero-g (the coin never falls)
14 (40.0%)

ticky-box full of grumbly cats in search of treats
23 (65.7%)

ticky-box full of being protective of your blorbos
17 (48.6%)

ticky-box full of surviving AO3 outages
24 (68.6%)

ticky-box full of soft, bright-green moss nestled at the base of a tree, glittering with beads of dew
21 (60.0%)

ticky-box full of hugs
26 (74.3%)

jadelennox

I've been trying very hard to cheerful!post this week because I'm frequently struggling to breathe, as one does these days. You all know how it is. I was planning on posting from the perfect 4 July book (The Westing Game). But when I looked at the exact words of the quotation, it felt much too on the nose:

The sun has set on your Uncle Sam. Happy birthday, Crow. And to all of my heirs, a very happy Fourth of July.

So, okay, I thinks to myself. I'll quote my other favorite Fourth of July bit from the end. But when I looked it up, uh. That didn't feel any less apropos to the moment?

Turtle?"

"I'm right here, Sandy." She took his hand.

"Turtle, tell Crow to pray for me."

His hands turned cold, not smooth, not waxy, just very, very cold.

Turtle turned to the window. The sun was rising out of Lake Michigan. It was tomorrow. It was the Fourth of July.

Ah, well. Ready for a nice game of chess?

princessofgeeks

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has marked as possibly inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18. )

torachan

Currently Reading
Murder at the Patel Motel
39%. This is not actually a book, so much as an audio drama. It's an Audible Original and comes free with membership, so I decided to try it out. Turns out the author and voice of the main character is the guy who played Jack's assistant on 30 Rock. I loved him in that! And I'm liking this "book" a lot so far.

Just Happy to Be Here
11%. YA about a South Asian trans girl's experience at a mostly white all girls' high school. It's all right so far.

Sister Outsider
No progress.

Riding the Rails
48%.

Recently Finished
How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee
I felt like this took ages to finish, but it was a good read. Very interesting stuff.

A Terrible Nasty Business
I really want more books in this series.

Sou Iu Ie no Ko no Hanashi vol. 1
New series from Shimura Takako following three characters who were raised in the same new religion (the religion in the story is not any real one, just based on others), marking them as different from the majority of the population, which is not actively religious. I like pretty much everything by Shimura Takako, so I'm curious to see where this goes.

Tsumetakute Yawaraka vol. 5

Hatsukoi no Tsugi vol. 2

alexcat

Dragons

My Scroll.

nnozomi posting in

guardian_learning

部首
十 part 3
华, magnificent/China; 协, to cooperate; 卑, vulgar/base ( pinyin )
https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?cdqrad=24

语法
[Back to review from the elementary levels with a new grammar site. If anyone has any other ideas/requests, I am totally open to any and all suggestions, there's only so much I can think up!]
Using 的
https://www.chineseboost.com/grammar/modifier-de-noun/

词汇
玩具, toy (pinyin in tags)
https://mandarinbean.com/new-hsk-3-word-list/

Guardian:
我会怀念你这颗卑鄙自私的心, I'm going to miss your base, selfish heart
赵云澜是您的儿子，沈巍也是我的老师, Zhao Yunlan is your son and Shen Wei is my teacher
[no 玩具]

Me:
他的名字是印尼的，但是其实他是华侨。
别玩坏你弟弟的玩具！

mrkinch

I fully expected to be sent on detour on my way up to Inspiration Point this morning. Centennial Drive and Grizzly Peak Boulevard have been closed for holidays involving fireworks for many years, being both the best places to watch from and extremely vulnerable to fire. But although Centennial was posted closed from 5 am this morning to 5 am tomorrow, at 5:30 am I met no impediment. I started down the trail just about sunrise, very windy but clear. Last time I wasn't sure whether EBMUD had mowed or whether the grass had simply dried up, a natural subsidence, but by this morning they had seriously graded the entire fire trail. That largely took care of the ticks and the big cracks in the dry ground that made it tricky to walk with a stick. However it also meant that they had cleared away the fallen tree debris, including the log I've been using as a bench for the last few months. Oh, well. It wasn't an exciting morning but a few cool things happened. As I stood at the top of the slope down to the big oak, a Cooper's Hawk made a pass up the road towards me. There were small birds and a rabbit on the road but they didn't take anything. At the north end of the trail the huge dead tree was temporarily alive with very small birds, Chestnut-backed Chickadees and Pygmy Nuthatches as far as I could tell. I'd never seen it so well-used. ( The list: )

No MacGillivray's. I didn't stay as long as usual, less than three hours, and as always I didn't want to go home, so I parked the EBR Botantic Garden and sat on the bench at the top of the garden for forty minutes or so. My list there was a bit different, as the garden is sheltered and has a creek through it. The Swainson's Thrushes were singing and the American Robins were rushing around presumably feeding families. Right across a lawn from me there was almost certainly a Black-headed Grosbeak nest from all the adult activity. I even heard a Western Bluebird! I haven't had one on Inspiration Trail in some time. ( The list: )

I should do that more often. I drove home the long way, all the way through Tilden and down Spruce, avoiding possible roadblocks.

settiai

In this afternoon's game, ( the rest under a cut for those who don't care. )

And that's where we left off and will be picking up later tonight.

Mood cheerful

james

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

Interesting lives

I. SPOTLIGHT ON FICTIONALLEY IMPORT

II. ARCHIVE OF OUR OWN

III. ELSEWHERE AT THE OTW

IV. THE 2025 ELECTION AND GOVERNANCE

V. OUR VOLUNTEERS

Expand Cut Tags